The Power of Paying Attention

My husband brought the mail in Thursday, but thankfully I didn’t see it until yesterday morning. Before work, he tossed a nice little official-looking letter from the IRS, addressed to Running Ink Press, onto my side of the dining room table. I thought to myself, “Uh-oh, I wonder if I checked a wrong box or something on the business return.”

Tax (Photo credit: 401K)

Well, that was sort of the issue.

I opened the envelope, pulled out the letter, and promptly had heart failure. Not a “did you mean to check this box” kind of letter, but a “you owe $4,680 in late-filing penalties” letter.

SAY WHAT?! I knew for a fact that I sent the tax filing in LONG before April 16. So I pawed through my file of RIP-related paperwork and found the return. Dated February whatever. Form 1065, as it should be. For tax year 2010.

2010!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Happy, Happy Birthday (Carrie Ann Ryan’s Birthday Blog Hop)

First off – happy, happy birthday to Carrie Ann Ryan! Her birthday falls squarely on my wedding anniversary, which puts me in a celebratory mood, which then benefits you, dear readers.

Since it’s a birthday blog hop, I’m going to talk about a birthday tradition in my family. This started with my mother, and we’ve carried it forward through the years with our own children.

I don’t come from a family with a lot of money – and I still don’t have a lot of money. So when you’re talking shoestring budgets, going out to eat for everyone’s birthday – and taking the entire family – is a financial burden designed to topple the precarious house of cards known as personal finances.

Honor Amongst People Who Make Up Crap for a Living

Recently, I found myself in a situation that I (a) never thought I’d find myself in, and (b) couldn’t quite believe was happening because stuff like this only happens in books. In short, without all the gory details, I learned that I someone I had a close association with does not really exist; the person behind the screen name is not the gender s/he presented to the online world, and our years-long “friendship” was just an elaborate game.

Ouch.

#ROW80 Sunday Check-In: How the Heck Did THAT Happen?

Meeting all my goals, that is..

The Wyckham House edits are complete and I’m a day away from having it formatted for e-book distribution.
I finished my edit of Condemned and have shipped it off to beta readers.

Wow. I’ve been amazingly efficient. All this while turning 34 (again) yesterday and all the ensuing chaos that is birthdays in this house. Whew. *sigh*

Hope you’re all doing well!

Here’s the linky thing. 

#ROW80 Sunday Summary: Discipline? WHAT Discipline?

I admit, I miss more check-ins than I make. I’m not particularly scattered, but I’ve noticed over the years that I’ve let go of a lot of the Type-A tendencies I picked up as a result of being the kid of a military sergeant. Also, I was reading Andrea Höst’s Touchstone Trilogy (Stray, Lab Rat One, and Caszandra) and I admit I was completely caught up in her worldbuilding. EXCELLENT series.

Excuses having been offered, here’s my update:

Finished the revision of The Wyckham House and have it prepped for publication; just waiting for edits and a cover, neither of which have an ETA. Hmmmm.

So I guess I need a new goal now…

Edit Condemned and get it prepped for publication. I DO have a cover for it. Doubt I’ll have edits back from beta readers & editor in time to release it with The Wyckham House, though. Bummer.

How’s YOUR week going? 

Cheer on the other ROW80 participants here!

Blog Tour de Troops – Wherein I Give Away Some Shtuff

If you'd like to donate money toward those Kindles for our soldiers, simply use Paypal and ibcprograms@gmail.com as the address to send money to. Please note on your payment that it's a Troops donation.

You should have arrived here from J Monkeys blog and will continue on to Michael Mustizer’s blog. But don’t leave until you grab your freebies!

I was an Air Force brat. I know, explains a lot about me, right? My earliest memories of my dad are of him in his fatigues, getting ready to go or coming home from work. We didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but there is one thing on which we were always in sync: a fierce patriotism to our country and unflagging support for our military forces.

So Hard to Get Good Help

Image by lawgeek via Flickr

Getting the October 2011 issue of Forever Nocturne formatted and sleek was an effort in frustration. I had nothing but problems with formatting and links being stripped out, paragraphs being rearranged – and then it happened on my personal blog a week later. So – being me – I decided to contact WordPress Support. 

#ROW80 Sunday Summary – Where I Say “I’m BAAAACK!”

Well, I went away to do some publisher-type things, and now that I’m back to my writer-type things…my attention is pinging from one thing to another. I can’t focus. I have 50 pages left to revise on my first novel, The Wyckham House, before it can go to my betas for their seal of approval. This is the second revision, and although not as intense as the first, I’ve been spinning my wheels on the last 50 pages for – oh, let’s be honest here – a month or more. I haz shame.

Out of Step

‎”I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time. ”  Orson Welles

Amen, brother. 

Image by atibens via Flickr

While I completely understand the necessity of saturating a topic or sub-genre in the traditional publishing world – after all, they have to bank on what is already selling – I’ve always been a march-to-my-own-drum kind of girl. Or I’ve always been odd, as my parents would say.

I read an article recently that I wish I’d bookmarked, because I can’t find it now (maybe the blog owner got too much hate-mail and deleted the post?) about how a writer should never, ever address the reader. Um, wow. Really? Because I wrote two novels and am working on a third in the series where the main character, written in the first person present tense, does just that. I don’t just break down the fourth wall in these stories; I drive through it with a big-ass tank and and crush all the mother-lovin’ splinters beneath my treads. 

And they’re selling.

Bestseller for a Day: Nearly Departed in Deadwood

I received a copy of this book free to read, review, and promote. Below is my honest opinion, as everyone who knows me knows I am not shy of giving.

How to even begin this book review… As a writer, I’m rarely at a loss for words, and not having words isn’t the problem now. There are just so many that I could use to describe this book: mystery, romance, comedy, tragedy. Awesome, side-splitting, erotic, mesmerizing, addictive. I have literally laughed out loud (waking up Long-Suffering Spouse), fanned my face, and held my hand to my mouth in stunned “Oh no! Oh no!” incredulity.

Pages: 1 2